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Report: Shahzad Had Four Other Targets In Mind

2010_05_shahzad.jpg Terror suspect Faisal Shahzad may have failed with his attempt to set of a car bomb in Times Square, but it turns out that the "Crossroads of the World" may not have been his only target. According to MyFoxNY, a source says "he was taking aim at four other high-profile targets: Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Center, and Connecticut-based defense contractor Sikorsky."

Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Terminal are both big hubs for tourists and/or commuters, while the World Financial Center is right by the World Trade Center site. Sikorsky makes U.S. military helicopters, such as the Blackhawk, and Shahzad lived in Shelton and Bridgeport, where Sikorsky has locations. "A source tells fox 5 that Shahzad says he had familiarized himself with all of these notable targets."

Former NY State homeland security adviser Michael Balboni said terrorists "want to maximize the exposure of the attack. So they want to pick things that are iconic that perhaps have a lot of people so they can increase the body count. Anything to make it as dramatic as possible."

Additionally, the MyFoxNY source claims that besides May 1, when Shahzad left his Nissan Pathfinder car bomb in Times Square, Shahzad also picked out May 8 as an alternate date: "We're told he picked those dates and the time of 6:30 pm for the attack after checking out live streaming video of 'Times Square ' online and he determined that 6:30 pm on Saturdays is when Times Square is the most crowded." And Shahzad allegedly gathered his supplies slowly so he wouldn't attracted attention.

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Comments [rss]

  • longacre

    So they want to pick things that are iconic that perhaps have a lot of people so they can increase the body count.
    The body count still would have been zero if he used the same bomb design at all four targets.

  • Mermaid Fornicator

    i guess all of the commenters on this story are disappointed he didn't have funding from saudi princes.

  • Radbecca

    NYC needs to throw a ticker-tape parade for that hot-dog vendor.

  • John_Matrix

    never trust a man with a unibrow.

  • Gotham Extremist

    Need to legislate a new law (aka Elle) to jail up to 4 years these unibrow bombers.

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